The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1887-04-17
The Color Line at the North.
Savannah News.

A good many good and well-meaning
people at the North try to make them
selves and the world believe that there is
no prejudice in that section of the coun
try against negroes The truth Is,
negroes are not as mucn respected at the
North as they are at the South. There
are a few people there who pretend to
make no distinction between white and
black people, but they do not succeed IN
inducing the masses to follow their ex-
ample.
At the Norrh the negroes are permitted
under the law few more privileges than
they have at the South, but the feeling
against admitting them to any sort of
social equality is as strong there as 1t Is
at the South Among the Southern peO-
| pie there is a kindly feeling for the
negroes and sincere desire to See them
do well. Northern people, while they
| have much to say about the rights of
negroes. have no liking for them, and
| object to being brought into relations of
| any kind with them. When such men
| as Senators Sherman and Hoar, there
| fore, pretend that there is an unreasOna-
| BILE pre- ludice against the negroes at the
South, they are neither sincere nor
| honest. because they intend to create the
impr sssion that the prejudice does not
exist at the North.
| In the New York Tribune of April IL
| there is a report of a meeting of the Ladies
/ Health Protective Association in that
city. One of the ladies, who had been
visiting the public schools to inquire into
/ their condition with respect to health.
said that she found that there ex-
isted the greatest prejudice against
the presence of colored children
in the white schools. The white chill
dren objected to being placed in
classes with them and teachers taught
them with repugnance. There was a
| silence for a moment after this statement
and then Mrs. T. j. Sparks. the president
of the association. said. with emphasis
Il declare that am an abOlitionist and
my father was before me, but | think
the law that permits black and white
children to mingle together Is an outrage
ON the white children"
This remark was greeted with hearty
marks of approval, and the opportunity
for expressing sentiments relative IL
mixed schools being thus presented Other
members of the association spoke theil
| views freely. One was opposed to mike,
schools on the ground of health: another
declared she would burn at the stake BE-,
fore she would permit her children to at
| tend a mixed school; third thought il
was dreadful that white and black chill
| dren We're forced To associate III tn,
schools, as such association might leae
to marriages between the races, and
fourth objected to anything calculated t.
deteriOrate the white race. Others stated
their objections to the presence of col
ored children in the schools, all of which
showed a deep-rooted prejudice agains
negroes.
1t is clear that mixed schools are not
success in New York City. The whit,
children are harmed by them because be
ing forced to mingle with the colore,
ones they become possessed of "a bite
feeling toward them that they otherwis
would not have. The colored children
are harmed, because they are humiliate'
and angered by the aversion of the whit
ones and the repugnance of the teachers
| What good purpose, then, Is served b,
mixing the white and colored children IL
the schools: None. whatever, and if b,
SO doing the school authorities aim {.
show their superiority to any race preJu
dice they have only to read the report q
the meeting of the Ladies' PROTECTIVE
Health Association in the Tribune to Sc
what a grave mistake they are making
1t is better for both whites and black
. | that the color line should not be Obliter
ated For the maintenance of that lin
it is not necessary To deprive the black
of any rights the laws entitle them t.
or to withhold from them the respec
which they may deserve on account q
| their merits or attaInmentS.